Phish plays at nTelos Pavilion

PORTSMOUTH, Va. (WAVY) - As part of its Summer 2010 tour, rock jam band Phish played for a sold-out crowd at the nTelos Wireless Pavilion in Portsmouth Tuesday night.

The nTelos Pavilion, right outside the WAVY-TV studio, is one of the smallest venues on the summer tour, with a capacity of 6,500--a fraction of many other venues on the tour.

And fans from all over brought their enthusiasm to Portsmouth to see the Vermont jam band.

Plenty of locals were also in attendance, like James Carter of Williamsburg, who has seen other concerts in Portsmouth.

"This is a really great venue in terms of kindness of the facilities, and being able to come down here without a lot of confusion," he said.

Portsmouth police, deputies, and venue staff members directed concert-goers as they do for every show. But Tuesday night, they did it for the sold-out crowd of nearly 7,000.

"I'm actually from Montana," said Phish fan Anna Tiffany.

"Charleston, South Carolina," a young man shouted to WAVY.com.

"I'm from Seattle, Washington," said Joe Sheehan. Sheehan said he and a group of friends had a hotel room in Chesapeake. "Phish tonight, then we're heading back. It will be about four days of driving across the country, about 10 hours a day."

Fans like Sheehan who spend money on food and hotels made the Phish show a profitable one for the local economy.

"Concerts are great," said John Robey, dock master at the Ocean Marine Yacht Center. "It brings people into Portsmouth and into downtown."

The marina that sits next to the pavilion was sold out.

"All the slips are taken.. And we still had people calling us today. People started making reservations back in March as soon as it was announced," Robey said.

The thousands who converged to the region were mostly only here for a day or two, but early estimates are that they left a fantastic financial mark.

Ken MacDonald, president of Integrated Management Group, which manages the nTelos Wireless Pavilion, said the success of the Phish show is a sign of things to come.

"As far as what we're looking at and forecasting, it's going to be our best season ever," he said. "This is a great way essentially to start the season with such a strong show."